Is somthing Loose??

Hello M715 Zone Family,
A friend of mine was driving my M715 over to his house and I was following him, we were doing about 50MPH and I was watching it when all of a sudden the right front tire started looking strange? It had started vibrating like you see on a semi trailer when the tire is put on the rim crooked? It did this for about a mile and then stopped and drove normal again? My friend had felt the vibration but didnt know what it was. We had put all new bearings in the front end over a year ago and we jacked it up and pryed on everything but cant find anything loose?
Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Mike Spradlin

Mike,

When I was in Germany, the original tires were fine on my truck. When the army replaced them when they wore out, they used re-capped tires. The shook terribly. I asked the guy in the motor pool if they were balanced. He said that they would have taken about a pound of weight on the rim so they didn't do it.

What I did was to use some GI ingenuity. They had a fleet of new trucks at the motor pool. I went one at a time (under the cover of darkness ;) ) and replaced each of my tires with the spare of a new truck. No one ever knew what I did. But the new trucks had a "good" spare and I had four new tires that did not shake.

So, what you saw was tire shimmy most likely caused by being out of balance. My truck that I have now had two (worn out, no good) steering dampers (shock absorbers) on it. I took them off and plan to balance the tires.

BTW, I was at a tire store and asked if they could balance split ring tires. They told me that they are outlawed and did not touch them. I have a bubble balancer but they looked at me like I was an idiot. Biggest problem is that the hole in the center of the wheel is larger than the balancer. And, I have to find a source of split ring weights.

I'd go back and have a very close look at the kingpins. I suspect there is some wear in them that is causing the vibration. Jack the front axle up taking the load off the tire completely and then use a long prybar under the tire to try to lift it slightly and see what happens. There should be no movement, and if there is, you need to investigate further.

Don, lockring rims aren't outlawed. The shop you took them to just didn't want to change them probably because of all the rumors they've heard.

Balance the tires, change tire psi, check out the front end as suggested above and rotate the tires around.

I did all the above and still had death wobble issues at 42 mph on a specific road. With 9 mounted NDT tires/rims to play with, I started rotating them around. Finally found 4 that played well together at a specific psi.

I swapped over to Michelin XZL tires and never thought about the wobble again. Until I had a flat at the 2008 Colorado FE. I put on a spare XL Binford had. Death wobble again at 42 mph. Fixed my tire and no more problem. Everything checks out ok on my front end too.

I think my problem is more a matter of a little bit of wear on the tie rod ends, drag link ends and king pins all add up to the wobble with a non balanced tire.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by randyscycle

I'd go back and have a very close look at the kingpins. I suspect there is some wear in them that is causing the vibration. Jack the front axle up taking the load off the tire completely and then use a long prybar under the tire to try to lift it slightly and see what happens. There should be no movement, and if there is, you need to investigate further.

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Absolutely true.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by randyscycle

Don, lockring rims aren't outlawed. The shop you took them to just didn't want to change them probably because of all the rumors they've heard.

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I figured as much. Even if they were trust me, they would have to come and pry them off of the truck!

Don try looking into the "sticky" weights they use on the high dollar rims they don't like putting the standard weights on those so they get the ones that just stick on the inside of the back of the rim. They work pretty good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Barrman

Balance the tires, change tire psi, check out the front end as suggested above and rotate the tires around.

I did all the above and still had death wobble issues at 42 mph on a specific road. With 9 mounted NDT tires/rims to play with, I started rotating them around. Finally found 4 that played well together at a specific psi.

I swapped over to Michelin XZL tires and never thought about the wobble again. Until I had a flat at the 2008 Colorado FE. I put on a spare XL Binford had. Death wobble again at 42 mph. Fixed my tire and no more problem. Everything checks out ok on my front end too.

I think my problem is more a matter of a little bit of wear on the tie rod ends, drag link ends and king pins all add up to the wobble with a non balanced tire.

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Agreed Barrman. I had the tire shop put 2 new front tires on my 2008 Chevy with 88k. They balanced them, but I had steering wheel shake between 55 - 70 mph. After 2 days of that, I moved them to the back and they rode fine. I replaced the outer tie rod (which seemed tight when I removed them). Put another 2 new on the front, and everything runs smooth.

Maybe the combo of slightly out of balance, with slightly worn outer tie rods...

Thanks for the great advise!
I appreciate the help!

God Bless....
Mike